The bands have been booked, the kegs have been tagged and the grills have been cleaned as the College's fraternities and sororities prepare for the 2007 Green Key weekend. The celebration kicked off Wednesday evening with Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority's tri-annual Tackies costume party.
Other pre-weekend events included a barbeque at Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity's Thursday Night Lounge, Theta Delta Chi fraternity's annual toga party and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity's pajama dance party Thursday night.
Bora Kem '08, a social chair for Sig Ep, said that the fraternity did not have a party last year because of the large number of events being held at other Greek houses.
"It seemed that there was too much going on, especially on Friday and Saturday night," Kem said. "Right now we're focusing more on Thursday nights for big weekends."
Friday afternoon Phi Delta Alpha fraternity, in collaboration with the Tabard and Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity, will shut down Webster Avenue for its annual Block Party. This year, the Block Party will move in a slightly new direction, teaming up with Dartmouth's Humanitarian Engineering Leadership Projects organization for the event, which will take place on Friday afternoon. HELP sends students to countries in the developing world to apply their technical knowledge to help the country meet its basic needs.
For a small fee, students will be able to participate in numerous outdoor activities including a dunk tank, inflatable jousting and a bungee run, with all the proceeds benefiting HELP, who will use the money to send students to Kenya and Rwanda this summer where they will implement infrastructure improvement projects.
"These activities will be placed on the lawns of some neighboring houses to bolster the 'block party' feel, in addition to raising funds," Zach Chestnut '08, president of Phi Delt, said.
The event will also feature a barbeque and cotton candy stands, as well as a performace by the campus band Rightly Guided Thieves, who will be followed by The Funk Grandmasters. The event is co-sponsored by the Programming Board, the Inter-Fraternity Council, the Greek Leadership Council, the Residence Inn in Lebanon and the Green Key Society.
Friday night Tri-Kap and Chi Gam will each hold dance parties. Chi Gam will also host its "Come As You Are" party on Saturday morning.
Saturday afternoon Theta Delta Chi fraternity will host its tri-annual Pig Roast. The event is held over Homecoming and Winter Carnival as well, but Green Key weekend generally brings the largest turnout.
"Our honorary brother Dave, his wife Marlene and his family use huge smokers to make delicious pigs, bread, corn, ribs and roasted meat," Rob Kasel '08, the social chair of Theta Delt, said. "It's the best party of the year because of the outdoor atmosphere, great weather, band and company."
Kasel is hoping for good weather and is looking forward to hosting a live band.
"The idea is that pig roast happens early and people relax, eat, enjoy the band and grab some drinks at the sweetest party of the year," Kasel said. "Nobody wants to go from a drunken Friday night in a basement to a Saturday morning in a basement, being outside at least makes it feel legitimate."
Alpha Delta fraternity also hosts its an outdoor event on Saturday -- its lawn party is the organization's biggest event of the year.
"It's a good event because we set up the band on the front porch and the lawn and hill are great for people to watch from," Pete Roller '08, a social chair of AD, said. "We think our yard is the best place to have an outdoor concert."
AD will host Bang Camaro, a metal group from Boston. They are scheduled to play in the late afternoon or early evening. Roller also hopes for good weather this weekend.
Psi Upsilon fraternity social chair Wes Clark '08 said that Psi U might host a fundraising event to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation, as they have done in previous years.
"Last year, we had Jenn Sterger, this C-side Facebook celebrity, come and speak," Clark said. "She spoke and raffled off some stuff for the Make a Wish Foundation, and we sold food. I don't think we're going to have a pseudo-celebrity this year."
Psi U will also host a party Saturday night, where the band Milf and Cookies will perform. Clark noted that as social chair, his responsibilities make it difficult for him to enjoy the College's big weekends.
"There's always work to be done or some sort of liability to worry about," Clark said. "You have to make sure everything's set up for the party, make sure people do their duties, be around when Safety and Security does walk-throughs, and generally be responsible for everything happening."
Heorot will also be holding a theme party on Saturday night titled "The Country Kwencher." According to social chair Alexander Felix '08, the house's new self-mandated keg policy prohibits the house from having kegs during parties.
"We just don't have kegs at all because our only problem is unregistered kegs that have been left around the day or week after a party," Felix said.
